H1N1 Theory Reconsiders Origin

A new theory puts the origin of the H1N1 virus not in Mexico, where right-wing anti-immigrant groups want it, but in Asia. Scientists explain that there has been no evidence demonstrating the virus in North American pigs, but plenty of evidence of a “sister virus” circulating in Asia.

The New York Times:

Contrary to the popular assumption that the new swine flu pandemic arose on factory farms in Mexico, federal agriculture officials now believe that it most likely emerged in pigs in Asia, but then traveled to North America in a human.

But they emphasized that there was no way to prove their theory and only sketchy data underpinning it.

There is no evidence that this new virus, which combines Eurasian and North American genes, has ever circulated in North American pigs, while there is tantalizing evidence that a closely related “sister virus” has circulated in Asia.

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